Like The Phoenix
by bowtiewearingowl
Summary: Because of a fight Heero tries to get away from his girlfriend for some time to think and literally crashes into an 'alternate' life with an intoxicating and loving young man, a life that could possibly burn away in an instant.
1. Prologue: Like Hot Molten Lava

**Notes:** So, I'm starting my next story. This is my reworked version of Keeping the Right Road. Along the same idea, just a little different. I really don't think this one is going to last as long and Last Name, probably a matter of a couple of chapters, but I'm going to put my best into it.

**Warnings: 1=2 **Not much. This is going to be a pretty sweet and clean little story. Maybe PG. Oh wait. There's a fair amount of Relena bashing in here. Yes, there is yaoi, but you should have gained that from the pairing listing…

"They call it 'yowie!' for a reason." –Scott McNeil on 1x2.

**Disclaimer:** There is no profit in this. I do not own the GW boys. I just borrow them to play with when I get restless.

[xXx][xXx][xX]

**Prologue**

Like Hot Molten Lava

The road beneath his tires seemed to be made of nothing but ice as tired skidded and slipped over the black pavement. He could barely see where he was going, trying to blink away the traitorous tears threatening to fall, a few rebellious drops sliding down his freezing cheeks like hot molten lava. He couldn't even remember why he was crying…

Sure, his day had been hellish. It had started off with him waking up to his girlfriend screaming at him from the bedroom doorway to wake up. "Heero Yuy! Would you get up? My brother is going to be here in an hour and you need to go shopping, now!"

Heero had dragged his limp, almost life-less body out of bed and dragged random clothes over his head. Relena had been perfect… in the beginning. Then she had moved in with him and became possessive, demanding, and downright wretched. She screamed constantly, accused him of being with other women, and griped that he didn't care enough.

Heero did care, or at least he had, at one time. But then the magic went away, along with most of his will to fight her anymore. When she would go off on a tangent he would just sit and listen and maybe grunt a little to make her think that he was listening. He would watch her and try to remember the woman he'd fallen in love with. She's been young and vibrant and had done everything in her power to get him to notice her.

He'd worked in a high scale art gallery in the city, trying to get an in with other artists to help his own artwork. She'd come to the gallery every day and would fawn over the artwork there and how expertly he'd arranged everything. At the time she'd been witty and cute during the times they'd gone out dancing or anything. It just changed when he'd asked her to move in with him.

She'd been more than accepting of his proposal but had said his apartment was too small for the both of them. So, Relena had moved all of his stuff into hers and thus had begun her tyrannical rule over his life.

It had been almost six months since he'd moved in and now her brother, Millardo, was flying in from London to have a big dinner with him. Relena said it was something about him bringing really good news and something that should help them out. They weren't drowning in bills, but they weren't exactly living the high life… which Relena was used to. Her family was dirty rich and she often griped about how Heero wasn't doing enough to help her live the way she used to.

The day of Millardo Peacecraft's arrival Heero was put to work running Relena's errands for her because she needed to direct the hired help about how to clean the apartment. Heero usually did the cleaning because Relena was far to proper to ever stoop to cleaning, and they normally didn't have enough money to pay for servants and maids, but this was Millardo and his presence demanded the best they could offer.

Heero went shopping and took his sweet time, knowing that Relena would be mad, but he didn't want to have to deal with her just now. He chatted with the butcher of the price of pork loin and talked with a few of the produce stalkers he saw on a regular basis. He also got a really good recipe for a nice dinner and red velvet cake from the lady in the bakery.

He returned home after five calls from Relena and ignored her as she shrieked about how late he was. Heero just sighed and handed off the groceries to a maid and went to lock himself in the shower and take an extra long shower. By the time he got out Relena was pampering herself in their room, so he was able to avoid her for a while.

When she finally left he only had to stand three minutes of her griping his messy looking hair before the bell clanged. He grimaced as she called a shrill, "Hold on a moment." Then she turned to him.

"If you're getting a headache, take some Tylenol. I won't let your migraines get in the way of my night."

He grimaced. She always forgot how he couldn't take Tylenol, it made him sick. He hated how she could forget these sort of things.

Immediately she grew charming and sweet and squealed girlishly as she motioned for a maid to open the door and she flung her arms around her brother's neck.

Millardo was a gorgeous human being with beautiful, long platinum hair and eyes as sharp as diamonds. He was gracious and kind, sometimes. Other times he could be ruthless. That night he'd appeared to be on his up swing. Appeared is the key word here.

"Good evening Millardo." Heero said graciously.

Millardo smiled at him and moved farther into the apartment, holding his sister tight against his side. "Heero. The apartment looks wonderful."

Before Heero could respond Relena took over her job as hostess. "Thank you darling. You know I try so hard to make this into a wonderful home. Would you like a tour?" He nodded sweetly and they wandered away, leaving Heero behind, not that he really cared. He wandered into the kitchen to help out the maids.

Relena found him thirty minutes later, complaining about how he wasn't being a good host. She refused to let him apologize and grabbed him and forced him into the living room where her brother had draped himself over the couch and was daintily holding his martini.

Heero took the seat next to Relena on the other seat and listened dutifully while they chatted about who knows what. None of the questions were directed at him so he didn't really care. Instead Heero took to looking like he was interested while he thought about the painting he was working on.

The project had been started long before he'd met Relena. It was still rather abstract and not going anywhere. Relena refused to have it in her house so he kept it at his old storage unit out in the country. Someday he'd finish it, but it was still a little while away.

A maid interrupted his thoughts by announcing that dinner was ready and everyone moved into the dining room. Heero took his regular spot next to Relena's side and the atmosphere was pleasant until after the main course had been finished.

Millardo slowly set down his knife and fork and wiped at his mouth before turning to Heero. "I hear that you are still working at the gallery." Heero nodded. "That must not bring in a lot of money."

Heero was slightly taken aback, "Um, not much, but I really enjoy it."

Millardo frowned deeply, "This is what I came to talk to you about Heero. You and my sister have been together for a long time and it is natural that you two will most likely be thinking of marriage."

Heero stiffened and he heard a soft giggle at his side and caught Relena looking at him coyly out of the corner of his eye. She'd planned this. "I doubt that you are planning on leaving my sister with a bare ring finger for long, but I don't think you'll be much of a match for Relena if you can't match her financially."

Heero opened his mouth to respond but Millardo stopped him with a hand, "This is why I've created a position for you at the bank. It's rather cushy and you really won't have to do much so I advise you really think about this." And then immediately after that he transitioned back to talking with his sister.

Heero had no idea what to do. He just sat and thought for the rest of the dinner and remained silent until Millardo was out the door. Relena was holding his hand tight in hers, and Heero noticed how her hand was so soft and cold. Freezing cold.

The second Millardo was out the door she turned on him. "Why did you hesitate when Millardo brought up our marriage?" She demanded.

"Because I haven't even considered marriage with you!" Heero growled back.

Relena looked like he'd hit her. "How can you say that? We're perfect together! My brother is just trying to help make a better life for me, for us!"

Heero glared at her and saw her visibly flinch. Without another word he grabbed his coat and stormed from the building, tugging it on the best he could in his fury. He wanted to get away from the apartment and not deal with her, not deal with life.

After fruitlessly tugging at the arm of his jacket and not getting anywhere he tugged it off and threw it in the back of his old clunker. Relena was always telling him to get rid of it, but he loved the stogy thing. It was reliable and always turned on, even in –3 degrees weather.

Ruthlessly Heero turned on the car and started out into the darkened street, not wasting a glance back at the brick building. He knew Relena would probably be on the phone with Dorothy, her best friend… if you could call the harpy that, telling her about how horrible Heero had been to her. But, you know what, Heero didn't care anymore. Let her mope and groan.

Heero didn't know how long he drove, all he knew was that he'd been driving long enough his car was burning hot, even in the negative temperatures outside. The suburban landscape had turned to rolling country that would last for a few more miles before turning into another suburban town.

Heero suddenly slowed the car enough that he could turn off on a dirt road a little ahead and down to an old storage unit. He pulled up in front of number 01 and dragged his key from his glove compartment. Blowing on his hands he fumbled with the frozen lock and pushed up the door.

There wasn't much in there, a lot of his books that Relena claimed they didn't have the space for. He kept most of his art supplies at the apartment, not wanting them to freeze, but there were a few that stayed in his car.

Rifling through the boxes and pushing them to the side he went to the back where his painting spanned the entire back wall. He pulled the blanket covering the canvas off and stared at the background. It was made of blacks and purples and blues. That was all. Just dark shades and nothing else. He'd really had nothing to inspire him to work on it.

For a while Heero sat there on a box staring at the painting, trying to think of anything to put on it. This had become a ritual for him, praying for inspiration and not finding it. He'd almost gotten to the point that it no longer bothered him… he was sure that some day he would finish it… someday.

His watch dinged at him telling him it was midnight. He needed to get moving again, not back home… but somewhere… What was that saying? There was always somewhere else to go? That was it.

With a groan he got up, rubbing at his forehead. His heart ached, but he didn't know why. He always felt that way after looking at his painting. Maybe it made him think about his relationship with Relena or maybe it was just his frustration about how being able to work on his painting.

Relena… God, why did she always have to come into his mind at the worst times?

That's when he felt the tears beginning to freeze before they left his eyes. He scrubbed at them angrily before slamming the door down and rushing back to his car, breathing heavily. The car was still warm so he was able to warm up quickly.

He started out of the parking lot and back onto to the main road. Instead of heading back to his suburb he went farther on, into the next town, left it and on for another fifty miles before he came to an heavily wooded town where the only thing that showed where the houses were located were little breaks in the trees where a road would stretch away from him.

There was a little Bed and Breakfast that he could stay at for the night, he just couldn't remember where.

Heero's eyes strained against the darkness, looking for a sign. He was tired and angry and disoriented and not in the best state to drive. His tires began to slide a little more and then the sliding grew to dangerous proportions. Heero struggled to regain control but through his tear fogged eyes he could barely see the road.

The next few seconds were filled with dead silence as his care went off the road and slammed right into a tree. Heero felt off center as the air bag employed and pushed at his body, but he really didn't feel the impact.

His mind kept moving a million miles per hour. God… he was going to die. And what had he done with his life? Get pushed around by Relena? What he would give to be happy, have a better life, maybe find someone he could have been happy with, truly happy with. Maybe he would have had a home… and a cat and dog… maybe even a kid.

Heero's eyesight was beginning to swim and his thoughts slowed to the singular idea of how beautiful the snow that had just begun falling was.

Somewhere in his mind he registered that his driver's side door was being flung open and his body pulled against a body. Two blistering hot hands grabbed at his face and forced it to look up into twin orbs of violet staring at him. They swam slightly as he watched and he could hear a voice calling his name but he couldn't respond.

Slowly his world plunged into darkness but the feeling of warmth lingered with him a moment longer. It felt like molten lava on his skin, it felt heavenly.

[xXx][xXx][xX]

I've decided that Scott McNeil, who is-of course-the English voice of Duo Maxwell, is far too much like his character. I've been watching panels and interviews with him all week and he's hilarious. I love his sugar cravings! Be expecting a few various quotes in here from him.

I wanted to thank everyone who gave me some amazing support for Last Name. I'm glad it's over but I'm also kinda sad. But I'm looking forward to this little one.

Also... I've been wanting to do some one shots based off of challenges from readers. I was thinking maybe off a particular word or maybe a phrase or simple idea. Those seem kinda fun... I have one from my good friend, Nicki, who wanted a one shot with an older Duo and a younger Heero and based off the word "Friction". So, we'll see how I can do with that one. If anyone has any other ideas you can give me a holler!


	2. Chapter 1: Like The Voice in My Head

**Notes:** I'm glad people actually liked the first chapter and was actually floored when I was told that this was actually better than Last Name.

**Warnings: 1=2 **Not much. This is going to be a pretty sweet and clean little story. Maybe PG. Oh wait. There's a fair amount of Relena bashing in here. Yes, there is yaoi, but you should have gained that from the pairing listing…

"At the nuclear holocost it's going to the cockroaches and the twinkies.... Sentient twinkies." -Scott McNeil on the Twinkie of Doom.

**Disclaimer:** There is no profit in this. I do not own the GW boys. I just borrow them to play with when I get restless.

[xXx][xXx][xX]

**Chapter One**

Like The Voice In Your Head…

Everything was warm and groggy. Heero almost felt like he'd been wrapped in a warm, fuzzy heating blanket then fed warm milk. A voice in the back of his mind kept saying, _"You gotta get up, you need to get moving sooner or later. It's not like you to sleep in."_ The voice had a rough, male quality to it.

"_But I'm so warm. I don't want to wake up."_ Heero replied tiredly, mentally rolling over, his hand moving over something hard and warm.

"_Don't make excuses."_ His mind reprimanded him, _"Just open your eyes."_

With a long suffering sigh Heero's eyes forced themselves open. They were crusted over with sleep and he had trouble focusing on anything. It didn't help that it was night out and heavy curtains had been drawn over a window.

Heero felt horribly disoriented and he blinked a few times, trying to clear his eyes. He raised his arm to rub at them and found it to be painfully heavy and touching his fist to his eyes caused a vicious pounding in his head.

Carefully he wiped away the crust and let his hand fall to the mattress and closed his eyes to let the pounding in his head subside. Something heavy was resting on his chest and Heero moved his other arm just a little. His hand connected with a long mass of hair and immediately his thoughts turned to Relena, had he actually gone back to the apartment? Had the accident been a dream?

His hand felt along the line of hair, which had been plaited farther down than Heero's arm could reach. Slowly his arm moved up and followed the braid as it got thicker toward the base of the person's skull. Burrowing his fingers into the loose hair around the top of the braid Heero took in the texture. It was coarse and thick, not Relena's at all. Her hair was thin and wispy and never braided.

Heero's eyes widened as he registered this fact. This wasn't Relena. His eyes suddenly snapped into focus and readjusted to the darkness. He wasn't in his apartment at all. Instead he was in a smaller room with dark brown furniture with light colored walls filled with paintings and pictures. The apartment's walls were designer white with nothing on them so they didn't detract from the artful furniture, or so Relena had told him.

Casting a glance down Heero found a person curled snugly against his side. Upon closer inspection it turned out the stranger was a man. Light from the window above the bed shone down on his face. He was strangely alluring in the darkness with the moonlight glancing off his long eyelashes and the top of his cheek and his nose, which turned up a little at the end.

One of the man's hands was fisted tightly in Heero's shirt while the other was trapped between their bodies. He had his ear laying over Heero's heart and he'd apparently pressed himself as close to Heero as he possibly could. That same rough voice in Heero's mind mentioned something about how nice he smelled but Heero ignored it.

He truly didn't know what to do. The man wasn't anyone that Heero actually knew and he was terrified of waking him, but it was probably the only way to get answers. But not yet, Heero wanted to collect his thoughts.

Carefully he maneuvered himself up, picking the man's head up and resting it on one of the pillows. The man whispered something in his sleep and his grip on Heero's shirt tightened for a second then loosened.

Slowly, placing his hands over the man's he pried of the hot, slender fingers and slid away off the bed. The second he moved to his feet the world began to spin a little and he held himself up on the edge of the side table.

When everything righted itself Heero looked down at the man, trying to figure out if he knew him and why the hell they'd been in the same bed. He bit his lip and took a tentative step away, stopping for a moment when the man on the bed stirred and mumbled something in his sleep. Once he settled down Heero took a few more steps toward the door.

He slipped out into the silent hallway where the walls were covered in paintings and pictures. At first glance the paintings looked incredibly familiar, especially one of a dove. Heero took a step closer to it and gasped as he stared at the name in the corner. _Heero Yuy._ Why did this man have one of his pictures? He turned to another one, and then another and found they all were his work.

A sudden thought stuck him. Was this guy a crazy stalker like the woman out of Misery? He needed to get out of here and fast before he could find out if that was true or not.

He hurried down the hallway to a little living room where a few lights had been left on and the curtains had been pulled open. Snow was falling lightly outside in a peaceful fashion and a small fire was dying in the grate on the opposite wall. He moved toward the door but stopped as a couple pictures on the wall caught his eye. They were snapshots of a group of people, mainly men. There was one picture in the middle of the cluster that really grabbed his attention.

The scene was a porch at dusk where a couple sat, cuddling on porch swing. The one on the left was the man on the bed, his head nestled on the shoulder of the other person and his brilliant blue-violet eyes were staring at the camera in a contented fashion. Heero's eyes slid to the person next to him and his jaw fell open. It was him, holding the man's hand with his other arm wrapped around the stranger's shoulder.

With shaking hands Heero reached out to the frame and pulled the picture out of the slot. On the back in his straight handwriting were the words, _"Duo and me, Summer 2007."_ Heero couldn't believe it. That was two years ago… but he was absolutely sure he'd never met this Duo person. Who in the world had a name like Duo?

He turned his attention to another picture where he and Duo? … yeah, Duo, had been joined by a surly looking man with black hair, a sweet man with blonde hair and a stoic man with red hair. They were all sitting around a campfire laughing. Duo's head was on Heero's lap and Heero's hands were buried in his bangs, in the process of messing them up.

Heero took that one out and found his handwriting scrawled across it, _"Duo, Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, and Myself at Trowa's farm, Fall 2009." _That had only been a few months ago. He put it back, his hands shaking and his head pounding.

He stepped away and fell into a chair, trembling, this was all too much. "Heero?" He heard a voice call. "HEERO!" Heero's head turned to the hallway where he heard pounding feet coming toward him. A moment later the man, Duo, came rushing in, sliding a little on the wooden floor in his sock clad feet. He looked very pale as his eyes found Heero in the chair.

Duo launched himself forward and wrapped his arms tightly around Heero's body, "God, do you know how much you scared me? I woke up and you weren't there. How're you feeling? Sally said you might have a headache when you got up? I made 'Fei go out and get some Excedrin earlier since I know you can't stomach Tylenol." He rattled on and on, his hot breath burning Heero's skin.

Heero felt like he'd heard the man's rough voice before but couldn't pin point from where. It took him a moment to realize that the man was moving up to kiss him. At the contact Heero's whole body tingled and he found his body almost immediately reacting, but before he could do anything Heero pushed him back.

Duo looked almost wounded at the action and stared at him with his impossibly large eyes, searching his face. "Heero?" He asked tentatively.

Heero's mouth flapped for a few moments before he was finally able to manage out, "Who are you?"

Duo slid to the floor with a heavy thunk, his jaw moving wildly. Finally his lips broke into a forced grin. "You're joking right? Aren't you? C'mon Heero. It's not funny."

Heero stared down at him, "I'm not joking. I don't know you."

Duo stood quickly, eyes wild. "Heero damnit, I'm your husband! Don't play these sort of tricks on me." Heero's eyes trailed down Duo's arm to his hand where a beautiful, simple wedding ring rested there. With a quick jolt Heero's eyes moved to his own hand where a ring was on his own finger. He tugged at it and found a white band around his finger where the sun had tanned the skin surrounding it.

He fainted dead away the next moment.

When Heero woke up he was on the bed again with his head pounding once more. A woman with long blonde braids was sitting next to him, smiling slightly as she talked to Duo. Duo had placed Heero's head in his lap and was twisting the silver band on his finger in a nervous fashion .

"-m sure this should all sort itself out. Probably this could have been brought around by the crash earlier-" Heero made a noise in his throat and immediately all attention was on him. Duo stopped spinning his ring and touched his hand to the side of Heero's face and stroked the skin there.

Heero didn't try to move, liking the feel of Duo's hands, even though he knew he shouldn't. "Hi Heero, how're you feeling?" The woman asked him.

"Dizzy." He muttered, focusing on her.

She nodded slowly. "That's to be expected. Now Heero… do you know where you are?"

He started to shake his head, but it made him dizzy again. The woman smiled and said, "Try not to move. Duo, try to keep him from moving his head." Duo's other hand moved to the other side of Heero's head to keep it still. Heero couldn't help but feel awkward and angry all at the same time. "Heero." She grabbed his attention again, "Do you know who I am?" He started to move his head again but Duo kept him stationary. He gave the man his patented Deathglare, but Duo seemed impervious to it.

"No." Sally frowned at his answer.

"I'm Sally Poe, Dr. Sally Poe. I'm married to Wufei."

"Who's that?" Heero asked grumpily.

"A friend of yours. What is today?"

Heero thought for a moment, "It should be December 3rd."

"It's the 4th already, you were out for a while. But that's okay. Now, what year?" Sally pressed, checking his eyes by pulling at his eyelids.

Almost immediately he answered, "2009."

"Do you know where you are?"

He almost shook his head, "No."

"You're at yours and Duo's home at 777 Bell Ave in Pendleton. Does that ring a bell to you?" She asked sweetly, pressing her cool hand against his forehead.

Heero sighed, "All I know is that Pendleton is two hours from my apartment in Tristan."

Sally grew quiet, "Heero. You don't have an apartment in Tristan-"

Heero opened his mouth to fight that, but Sally went on to ask another question. "Heero, what is the last thing that you remember from before you woke up the first time?" He was starting to get tired of how she said his name and just wanted her to stop.

He licked his lips and closed his eyes, "I'd just gotten into a fight with Relena-"

"Relena?" She asked,

"My girlfriend." He heard Duo gasp slightly and watched the corner of Sally's lips fall. She nodded for him to go on. "We'd been fighting about marriage and I left the house in a huff and drove to my storage unit, then I kept driving and then I crashed. I think someone dragged me out of my car, but that's it."

Sally sighed and looked at Duo, "And you said you heard the crash?"

He nodded, "I was inside, waiting for him to get home from Trowa's when I heard the crash and came out."

Heero was getting tired of this. "I don't know what game you guys are playing at but I really need to get home."

Sally smiled at him sadly, "Heero, you are home. You don't have a girlfriend and you don't live in Tristan. You're married to Duo, well, more or less, you've been together for at least four years. This is your home, you guys bought this place two years ago."

Heero spluttered and forced himself up, rubbing at his forehead as it started to throb. "Could you get him something for the pain?" She asked Duo and he nodded, sprinting out of the room immediately.

"This isn't right." Heero murmured, "What you're telling me isn't right."

Sally placed her hand on his, "Heero, we'll give you whatever proof you need."

Duo had returned with Excedrin in his hand and gave it to Heero, looking at the floor and biting the inside of his cheek. "What I really want is just to be able to think." Heero murmured and Sally stood immediately, touching Duo's shoulder. Duo set the pills on the bedside table and hurried out the door without a glance back.

Sally followed and closed the door and Heero could hear them talking. Slowly, quietly he got up to get close to the door to listen. "What's going on?" Duo hissed, "Why is he having these… delusions?" He said, his voice breaking a little.

"I think it's a form of amnesia, as a result from the collision, where the mind creates a different reality or something. I'm going to get in contact with a few of my medical buddies and see what they have to say." Sally replied.

"So what should I do? My husband doesn't remember me and instead thinks that he has a girlfriend in Tristan."

Sally was quiet for a moment, "You're going to have to be patient, I know that's a problem for you, but you're going to have to just deal with this. It'll probably right itself in a while. Just let him-" They'd been moving away from the door for a while and had finally gone out of earshot.

Heero hurried back to the bedside table and looked at the clock next to the bed, it was almost 6 p.m. Relena was probably worried what was going on. He scrambled over the mattress to the phone on the other side of the bed and dialed the number to his apartment. A woman answered the phone in a singsong voice, "Hello?"

"Relena?" Heero asked breathlessly.

"Yes. Who is this?" She sang sweetly, in a voice that reminded him of the voice that she would use when she'd been trying to seduce him in the beginning.

"Heero, your boyfriend. Remember?" He growled.

There was silence. "I'm sorry. You must have the wrong number. I don't have a boyfriend, especially one named Heero-"

He cut her off, "Heero Yuy! We met a little over a year ago at the art studio I worked at." She was silent for a few moments.

Slowly she started to speak, "I think I remember you. Actually I do! The sexy Asian guy with the deep voice. I also remember you turned me down when I asked you out. Though, I wouldn't be upset if we tried again." She purred and he hung up. What game was she playing at?

Or… was she even playing at a game?

This had to be a dream, a really weird dream… but it hurt so much. Almost too much to be a dream, so what exactly was it?

Heero reached over to the side table and grabbed the pills and downed them before leaning back to take in the room. It was light blue with dark green trim and pretty eclectic and working towards the brink of being messy.

More of his paintings lined the walls, though many of them he couldn't remember painting. There was one of Duo sitting on a park bench, laughing brightly and then some of landscapes and others of birds. On the bedside table was another picture of him and Duo, holding each other close; standing in front of what he was guessing was the house.

He jolted to reality as there was a knock on the door and Duo asked if he could come in. Heero was silent for a moment before answering yes.

Duo pushed the door open tentatively and slid in. "Do you want anything to eat? Sally brought over Chinese earlier. I left you some Egg rolls." Duo asked, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, like he didn't know whether to move toward to bed or stay near the door.

Heero watched him, taking in his appearance. Duo was very attractive, even for a man. His braid was long and thick and his eyes were very exotic. He had a thin build but had strong looking shoulders. Heero could see himself being attracted to the man, very easily. "Duo, I'm sorry that you're having to deal with this."

"I don't mind. You're my husband after all." Duo answered stoutly, a grin upon his lips that gave Heero the impression of being forced.

"I don't remember that-"

Duo cut him off. "That's alright, give it time. Like Sally said. Now, do you want your egg rolls or not?" Heero's stomach answered for him with a resounding growl. "Kay good. You'd better move because I'm not going to be pampering you. C'mon, up you go."

Heero moved to his feet with a groan, thinking it would be good humor the man. Heero knew he should have been creeped out by the fact that Duo knew about the Excedrin and his love of Egg Rolls, but every time he tried to rationalize anything, his head would really hurt.

He followed Duo and his wagging braid out to the living room and off to a side door where there was a kitchen covered in white take out boxes from a Chinese restaurant. Duo took a seat and grabbed a carton of Mu Gu Gai Pan. Heero took a seat and watched him before taking the egg rolls.

Duo chattered aimlessly, in an uneasy fashion. Finally, he seemed to run out of things to say and his shoulders slumped slightly. He looked like he was about to say something but stopped and moved to put away the dirty plates. "Tired?" He asked and Heero wondered if Duo was talking to him or to himself.

"Slightly." Heero replied.

Duo nodded and moved out of the kitchen, just trusting that Heero was following him, which Heero did. He'd decided that it was safer just to pacify Duo before slipping out and going back to Relena. He had no idea why this man was doing this but decided it was better to get out of there quietly and not bring in the police. He had, after all, pulled him from his car.

The idea of his car made him wince, he didn't even want to think of what sort of shape his car was in.

Duo made a noise to get Heero's attention. He was standing in the doorway of the bedroom, watching him carefully. "You coming?"

Heero opened his mouth and closed it before shaking his head. Something glimmered in Duo's eyes but he didn't say anything. "I don't really feel very comfortable sleeping in the same bed with a man I don't remember." It wasn't until later that Heero realized how much those words had bothered Duo.

Duo threw on a grin and nodded to the living room, "The couch is a pull out. There's blankets in the cabinet next to the fireplace. I'll see you in the morning." He moved forward a little, as if to touch Heero but just settled for touching his hand against Heero's shoulder and squeezing slightly. Then he was gone.

Heero went through the motions of making the bed and waited the appropriate time for Duo to maybe be asleep. Once he was sure it was safe Heero slipped out of the makeshift bed and out the front door without a second glance back.

[xXx][xXx][xX]

I hadn't planned on updating this story this fast but I wanted to get the first chapter up and get the story rolling. I'm surprised how long this chapter was able to stretch out and I kinda want to set this as what I'm striving for. I'm sure I won't always hit the mark, but I'm going to still try.

Heero's very calm in this chapter because I don't see him as the type to really flip out. Now, if Duo were in his shoes it would be another matter, but it's not. And Duo's very detached because I saw it like his way of throwing up his mask so he doesn't show that he's hurt by the rejection.

I really like this story so far and I hope you do too!

Just remember, reviews make me move on this, especially if there's critiques or suggestions or even people telling me they at least enjoy it or not so I know what I'm either doing right or wrong.


	3. Chapter 2: Like the Pure White Snow

**Notes:** I find it so sad that my short story is doing better than this one… oh well.

**Warnings: 1=2 **Not much. This is going to be a pretty sweet and clean little story. Maybe PG. Oh wait. There's a fair amount of Relena bashing in here. Yes, there is yaoi, but you should have gained that from the pairing listing…

_"You got no idea how many people are livin' inside my head."_

-Scott McNeil.

**Disclaimer:** There is no profit in this. I do not own the GW boys. I just borrow them to play with when I get restless.

[xXx][xXx][xX]

**Chapter Two**

**Like the Pure White Snow…**

The snow was still slowly falling quietly, giving the area surrounding the house an eerie quality. The house was a large cottage-like house and gave off the idea of a Christmas card in Heero's mind. Everything was surrounded by large pine trees except for an opening in the foliage that led down to the road, which he could see if he squinted.

A car was parked next to the house and Heero was guessed it was Duo's car. It was almost completely covered in snow and there were at least a few inches of snow on the ground… he hadn't realized that he'd been out that long. Relena must have been going nuts… even if she hadn't sounded like it on the phone.

Heero shivered violently as he began to realize just how cold it was. He was still only in his shirt and jeans from before and had apparently left his jacket inside, but he couldn't risk going back in to try and track it down.

Quickly Heero started trudging down the driveway, trying to walk in the tire marks to avoid getting snow in his shoes. The driveway wove downhill to the main road that he'd been driving on earlier. A couple minutes later Heero found the wreckage of his car at the bottom and stopped short. The car that was smashed against the tree was not his car. Heero drove a black BMW, not a white Ford something. He circled it and looked up and down the road for any sign of his car but saw none.

He glanced back up the road and stared at the house through the little gaps in the trees. He frowned, there was no other way.

Heero made his way back up the slope, slipping a little and messing up his jeans. Relena would not be happy about this.

Duo drove a car that looked a lot like the one totaled at the bottom of the road, only in deep black. He tugged at the door and found it open and also found the keys in the ignition. Someone needed to tell Duo to not do that, or else someone would do exactly what Heero was doing now.

As he started up the car and turned down the radio blaring a loud, violent sounding song Heero made a silent promise to have someone return Duo's car. There was no way he'd do it himself, but he wouldn't keep the car.

He started out down the road and back onto the main street, making sure that he avoided the car at the bottom. If cars were crashing this much on the road, they needed to post better signage. Heero hadn't noticed the light turning on in the bedroom or Duo watching from the window with a frown on his lips. Once his car had gone down the road and disappeared he sighed, running his fingers through his bangs. What he needed was a shower and then something sweet and totally unhealthy. Solo would shoot him for breaking away from his health regiment, but that's what tonight was called for.

Heero drove for hours, trying to go fast enough to get back before it got way too late, but trying to be safe so he didn't get into another wreck.

In the end it turned out he got back to the apartment very late. Relena would already be asleep so at the door he checked his pockets for his keys. They had been in his inside pocket. Maybe Duo had taken them out… though he didn't see why.

Finally, after checking his pockets for a third time he deigned to knocking on the door. Relena took her sweet time answering and the woman he found on the other side was not the woman he'd been seeing for the past couple of years.

She wore more makeup than he she ever needed to, her eyelids looking like something off of an Egyptian painting. Her shirt was tight and low cut and her skirt looked far too short for anyone's comfort. Plus she was dressed from head to toe in pink… though that wasn't too unusual. In short she actually looked like she'd just gotten back from clubbing.

She was also a little tipsy, though still pretty in control of her faculties.

"Hi!" She chirruped. "Can I help you?"

"Relena?" Heero asked, moving forward a little. She grinned at him, no recognition what so ever in her eyes. Heero didn't know what to think of that, because Relena wasn't that good of an actress. "Are you okay?"

Relena cocked her head to the side, blonde hair swaying around her body in long, straight layers. "Do I know you?"

"Relena, it's me. Heero." She squinted at him then finally dawn began to break behind her eyes.

"Ah! The art curator, right? I'm glad you finally came around. C'mon in. We can have a night cap and very cozy little chat." Before he could say anything she'd pulled him into the apartment, which had completely changed.

The walls were still pink and girly, but not neat. The furniture was completely different and covered in Cosmo and other teen magazines that Relena was far too old for. There were panties hanging over the back of the couch. Relena snatched them up and giggled, "Oops, forgot about those."

Heero couldn't believe this. She couldn't have changed all this in the time he was gone… and he couldn't see why. Relena was completely insane. He'd seen her like this once before, when she'd first come into the gallery and set her sights on him.

The next visit she was more demure and cultured, it was almost like she was a different woman. Heero couldn't quite get why in the world she'd now reverted to her original self. Relena steered her into the kitchen and started rummaging around for something in the fridge. Heero was surprised when she fished out a bottle of gin from the back. As she began to pour Heero started to mention something about her drinking, which she had never done before.

"You know," Relena started, bringing his attention back to her, "I'd heard that you'd left the gallery and started painting somewhere. What're you doing back here now?"

Heero shook his head and murmured, "I don't know. Everything is so wrong." He felt like he was stuck in an episode of the Twilight Zone… like the one with the lady in the train station. "I'm suppose to be your boyfriend. I was three days ago." He mumbled, feeling horribly mad, and not as in the angry form of the word, no, he was too tired to be mad. Now he just felt insane.

Relena stared at him as she took a gulp of her gin. She saw the bump on his head and decided he'd probably gotten in a fight with his lover. From what the guys at the gallery had told her about _'Duo Maxwell'_ he was a little wild.

She frowned at him then reached forward and touched his face, crooning softly, "Ooh, you poor baby. I do assure you I'm not your girlfriend, but I would love to help remedy that situation. We could start with a sweet little kiss."

As it turned out it wasn't a sweet little kiss.

Relena had apparently become very demanding and strong in this new version of the world. She smashed her lips against his and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck in a vice like grip. Heero tried to enjoy it. He knew how she kissed and it really wasn't all that differen, just more... forceful.

This time everything felt wrong.

Her lips and her scent were all off. She was wearing a stronger perfume, almost acidic. Even though his mind knew her, or thought it knew her, his body didn't. And it didn't like her now (not that it really had liked her before, they hadn't slept together all that much).

He pushed her away and got to his feet. He couldn't stay there. Relena stared up at him, almost hurt. "I'm sorry Relena, I don't know what's going on, but I'm going to try and fix it. I'm sorry to get you involved. I need to go."

"And do what?" She asked, "Do you have somewhere to go?"

Heero stopped mid stride and frowned, he didn't really. He didn't have any keys to any houses and he was pretty sure by now, with the way everything was going, that he probably wasn't living in his old apartment. "I don't know. But I'm sorry to have bothered you."

"I'll be here if you need anything." She purred.

Heero frowned and hurried out the door and outside, to the freezing cold. He stared around the street, expecting something strange to happen or a meteor to come blazing straight at him. But no such thing happened.

Everything stayed quiet and calm. A car drove past him and the snow started to fall again, just a light dusting.

Heero got back into Duo's car and turned up the CD player and began driving again. The song had changed to something about the barrel of a .45, but Heero mainly tuned it out. It was just noise that helped keep his head from turning around on his neck.

He didn't know how long he drove; all he really knew was that he was alone on the streets. Almost all the lights had been turned off and he guessed that families were off on their own little boats to dreamland.

An hour later he stopped at a mini-mart and used their phone since he couldn't seem to find his own. He immediately dialed the number of his father's house and waited. "Hello?" Odin Lowe's voice boomed steadily over the speaker.

"Hi Odin, it's Heero." Heero murmured.

"Ah! Heero! I'm glad you called. I didn't recognize the number on the caller ID, where are you?"

"Tristan."

"What're you doing there? Is everything okay with Duo? Is he with you?" Heero had hoped and prayed that his father had no idea who Duo was. Him asking about the boy had been the last thing he'd wanted to hear.

Heero cleared his throat. "I just needed to clear my head. I got into a little car accident earlier, but I'm okay. I just wanted to get back to the city and think."

Odin laughed, "You're doing everything backwards my boy, it's you go to the country to clear your head. Did you get hurt?"

"No, just a bump on my head. I'm okay. Um… Sally? She looked me over and said I was fine." Heero hated lying to Odin, but he didn't want to have to go into details about it.

"Ah, good old Sally. Her and Wufei are almost too cute together, but I'm glad at least one woman was able to tie him down. By the by Heero, when are Trowa and Quatre going to tie the knot?"

"Who?"

Odin muttered something, then, "The connection must be bad. QUATRE AND T-!"

"I can hear you! No need to shout." Heero said loudly and Odin, "I'm a little tired I guess."

"Well, head home if you can or try and find a hotel. I'm sure Duo would be pissed if you got into another accident." Heero sighed and nodded, though Odin couldn't see.

"I'll do that. Goodnight."

"Night kid, my love to Duo. Oh! And remind him about me coming down to visit sometime before the New Year."

"Can do." He murmured weakly. "Sleep well." Then he hung up and stared at the phone for a few moments.

Finally the man at the counter cleared his throat and jarred Heero awake. He thanked the man, who looked thoroughly tired, and went back to the car and began driving again. Within a matter of an hour Heero found himself back at the storage shed.

Almost automatically he took out Duo's keys, barely noticing the scythe attached to the metal ring and found his key to the storage shed dangling next to the car's key. A deep #01 had been etched into the metal, the exact number of his storage shed. It no longer bothered him that the key to his storage shed rested on Duo's key ring, it seemed to fit with everything else going on.

He found the inside of the building completely empty and couldn't bring it upon himself to be surprised. Heero had seen a few items from the storage shed floating around the house, a few painting supplies and other things that he'd had to take away as not to offend Relena's sense of… everything.

He slowly moved farther inside and pulled on the chain hanging from the bare light above his head. Everything was cast into stark light and dark shadows.

Heero stared the empty back wall, wishing and willing the mural to appear there. Sort of like a form of normalcy from what he knew, instead of like this twisted version of wonderland.

For a while he sat and shivered until that annoying voice in his head said, _'Can't hide forever, Heero. You need to go home.'_

_'And where is that?'_ Heero shot back unhappily.

_'Where do you think?'_ The voice taunted. Heero scowled and scratched at his unruly locks. He knew where the voice was hinting, but he didn't want to agree with it. That would mean he was giving into the madness.

_'Why are you so afraid, Yuy? You gotta step outside your comfort zone every once in a while. Why not now?'_

Heero growled angrily. _'I have no idea!!'_

_'Then stop fighting it. Go home! Go! Go!'_

Heero shot to his feet. "Fine!" He roared out loud, "I'm going!"

The voice sounded smug as it said, _'Good boy.'_

Heero didn't try to comment on the fact he was having a conversation with the voice in his head. It only enforced the opinion that he was crazy.

He got back into Duo's car and began to drive once again. Before he knew it he was turning up the slope next to the totaled white car.

He parked it in the spot it had been settled earlier and got up, looking at the face of the house. It had been decorated in Christmas lights that weren't turned on yet and part of it had stone slabs covering it. In general it had a homey feel.

He moved to the steps and sat heavily, staring at the partially white sky, jumping a little as a flake caught him in the eye. Heero felt like crying and felt the cool water freezing at the edge of his eyes.

He twitched a little as the sound of a door clicking open broke the unholy silence. A warm suede jacket was settled upon his shoulders and a hand pushed the snow from his hair.

Duo settled down on the steps close to him. "Did you have a nice drive?"

"How long have you been awake?" Heero asked tiredly.

Duo shrugged, "I never went to sleep. Took a shower and had time to dry my hair too. Even made those pull apart cookies. And I didn't burn them either!"

Heero felt a smile cross his lips. They were silent for a while, then Duo broke the silence.

"Do you want to go in? It's kinda cold out here. I made chocolate chai latte." Heero smiled, that was his favorite drink.

Duo stood and offered Heero his hand, which Heero accepted. The contact felt like fire and Heero let go once he was on his feet and caught the sad look the Duo gave him. Before Heero could comment on it he literally watched as Duo threw on a mask and grinned at him.

Inside the fire had been lit and lights had been turned on. A book was settled on the arm of a chair and a blanket lay scrunched up to the side, as if Duo had been waiting. Duo led Heero into the kitchen and settled him down at the chair as he poured the frothy drink into a brilliant blue, handmade mug and a matching violet mug and set it down before him.

They lapsed into silence once more and Heero glanced up to the clock on the wall. It was well after midnight now. He glanced to Duo and asked, "Are you tired?"

Duo shook his head and sipped his drink like he didn't have a care in the world. "Naw, I've always been a night person."

Heero took a sip and noticed the touch of cinnamon and sugar that had been added. "How's your head?" Duo asked timidly.

"It's okay. There's a slight throbbing, but it's not all that bad."

Duo nodded and was silent again. He seemed almost uncomfortable with the quiet. Duo gave off the appearance of a talkative person. Finally he burst. "Did you see what you had to?"

Heero shrugged, "I'm still very confused, but I don't know what else to do." Duo sighed, and he was pretty sure that Duo had been hoping this drive would have helped bring back whatever memories that Duo was sure Heero had lost.

"Well, whatever you need, I'll help you with…. Are you tired?"

Heero bit his lip and took another sip. "Just a little." Driving didn't normally take it out of him. He could do a 14 hour drive without worrying about too many breaks, or getting tired.

Duo nodded, "Well, I know you don't wanna share a bed so we can just deal with the folding bed until I can clear out the guest room. There's so much crap in there I'm almost afraid to go in." He laughed brightly and Heero was almost convinced that Duo was perfectly all right.

Heero grinned slightly and Duo finished chugging his drink and put away the cup. "Well, I'm going to take a gander at the guest room, then go to sleep. I have to go into the store in a coupla hours so I'll try and be quiet. Night."

He moved past Heero, his hand landing on Heero's shoulder and squeezing tightly, before moving out.

Heero felt kind of hollow as he finished his drink. He'd heard Duo shut the door to the room a while later. Heero waited a small while before leaving the kitchen and moved down the hallway to listen at the door. Inside there was silence, but every-so-often he thought he could hear a soft snuffling.

Heero dragged himself to the pullout bed, which had been made up, and lay down, suddenly very drained. He stretched out across the mattress and closed his eyes, feeling the tingling burn over his eyelids that accompanied incredible tiredness.

He felt horrible for Duo, but there was nothing he could do. Maybe tomorrow would be better.

[xXx][xXx][xX]

Thanks for all the reviews! I'm glad for all the feedback!

This just shows my short-term attention span… I'm working on the second part to The Course of True Love, this one… I was thinking of working on Gentlemen Prefer Brunettes and Friction and now I really want to do something with Duo as a cowboy and Heero as a city slicker. So much to do! Such little time! Damn my mind!

After writing this chapter, I just loved how much Scott McNeil's quote I put at the top matched it. Heero's got a voice in his head that's going to annoy him to no end.

Also, can anyone guess the song that I referenced earlier, and anyone know the actress referenced in the Twilight Zone episode?

God, I love this story, having so much fun! Hope you are too! Please review!


	4. Chapter 3: Like The Feeling of Not

**Notes:** Yay! Next chapter! This is for darling Gami 1x2… who asked me to update quickly. Yeah. That was a little while ago. But life is a bitch. I'll get True Love up soon. I'd planned on writing during my 4 day weekend (which happened about a month ago) but that didn't turn out the way I wanted because one of the girls who work at my family's clinic called in sick (drunk) and I had to fill in for her.

**Warnings: 1=2 **Not much. This is going to be a pretty sweet and clean little story. Maybe PG. Oh wait. There's a fair amount of Relena bashing in here. Yes, there is yaoi, but you should have gained that from the pairing listing…

"It's space. It's a manly place. Men so manly they need a man for a wife… and then there's Quatre."

-Scott McNeil.

**Disclaimer:** There is no profit in this. I do not own the GW boys. I just borrow them to play with when I get restless.

[xXx][xXx][xX]

**Chapter Three**

_Like the Feeling of Not Belonging…_

Morning dawned almost brilliantly bright, streaming through the curtains like a shot. Heero's eyes snapped open at his usual time and were almost immediately assaulted by the light. He rolled over onto his stomach and smashed his face between the cushions, waiting and listening for Relena's shower like he always heard every morning. This morning it wasn't there.

He quickly sat up, squinting at his surroundings and finding them foreign. Slowly the previous couple of days began to filter back to him and he groaned and slammed his face back into the cushioning of the pillow that Duo had supplied him.

After a short amount of time Heero moved himself up onto his arms and sat back on his haunches, looking around at the room behind the pull out bed. His eyes soon came to land on a side table and a note that had been scrawled in a great rush. Rubbing his eyes Heero brought the note close to his face and squinted, trying to wake up as he read.

_Heero,_

_I had to go into the store, like I told you last night. I don't think I'll be back for lunch like usual, but I'm off at three today. I'll bring home something to eat so don't worry about that._

_Speaking of eating. There's fruit for breakfast, or whatever you want. This _is_ your home too so help yourself to anything you want (please don't start keeping track of what you eat, it was annoying enough when you first moved in with me). _

_If you want to start moving things out of the guest room go right ahead. Put the boxes out in the living room and I can sort through them later._

_Do not overdo yourself! Sally said that you'll be dizzy for the next few days, maybe even weeks. If you feel dizzy please sit down and drink something. Hydration is the key!_

_I'll call later to check on you._

_Duo_

_P.S. Quatre said he was probably going to be dropping by to talk to you, but knowing him that won't be until later. I'll most likely be home by then to run interference._

Something just above Duo's name had been scribbled out viciously and Heero had the impression that it had been a term of endearment.

With a small frown Heero set aside the paper and slowly got up, finding a pair of jeans and a loose shirt laid out for him. He changed quickly and set his old clothes in the same place and began to really explore the house. Branching off the living room was the kitchen and a bathroom and a small office that Heero guessed belonged to Duo since there was a large picture of Heero set in the space next to the computer.

He left that room alone and went down the hallway and passed the master bedroom. He quickly located the guest room and couldn't help but agree with Duo about not wanting to deal with it. Boxes were piled everywhere along with old towels and beach supplies and other odd trinkets. Heero backed out of the mess and checked the other doors. There was a bathroom, laundry room, and a closet.

At the end of the hall was a staircase leading downstairs. Heero moved carefully down the steps to a finished basement/studio where one half was an exercise room/den and the other was an art studio. Heero went farther into the studio to look around at the paintings set up around the room. There were multiple unfinished ones that dealt with birds and a few of Duo, some of which made him blush since they showed a charcoal version of Duo in a state of undress. He was a gorgeous man, there was no denying, and apparently the person that he was in this world, time space, whatever knew the man's body well... very well.

Hurriedly Heero moved from those paintings to one that was stretched out along the full length of the back wall. He pulled the cloth covering it and frowned at the painting underneath. It was a quick painting of a large bird. Not much color had been put in and it was still in need of serious work. Apparently he still hadn't found much inspiration for the canvas, even in this new life.

After his self-guided tour Heero moved back upstairs to the kitchen and shuffled around to make a simple breakfast of oatmeal and fruit. The house seemed too quiet now that he was able to sit and listen. He felt like he was encroaching on a life that he didn't belong in. Heero ate quickly, cleaned the dishes (though he really didn't need to) and put them away.

Not liking the silence Heero turned on the radio and found a CD he could stand, turned the sound up almost all the way, and started to clean out the guest room. When he got dizzy he would sit down like Duo had instructed but get right back up the second the moment had passed, not liking how the inactivity would bring back the feeling of not belonging.

At one point his dizzy spell got so bad that he started to hear ringing in his ears, it took him a moment more to realize that the phone was ringing.

Remembering Duo's note about calling later he hustled out of the room and to the phone in the living room. He caught it just before it stopped ringing but the sudden movement made his dizziness worse. Heero managed to press the answer button before slumping down in a chair with a groan.

Duo's voice rose tinnily from the speaker, "Heero? Heero!"

He waited a moment before answering, "Sorry. Give me a moment." Heero growled and moved to turn down the music and slink back to the chair.

"Are you okay? Answer me dam-" Duo called.

Heero cut him off and said, "I'm fine. I just needed to turn down the music."

"And before that?" Duo demanded.

"I had a dizzy spell."

"Are you sitting down now?" Heero made a noise that seemed to appease Duo a little. "So… what have you done this morning?"

Heero could tell that Duo was trying to keep the conversation simple, "Cleaned out the bedroom." He answered, not really a fan of talking on the phone.

Duo seemed subdued by Heero's clipped answers but didn't say anything about it. "Well, take a rest, okay? Don't forget to eat something. I'll be home a little after three. Sheridan texted me to say she was going to be a little late today. Something about her Honors class…"

Heero gave a simple answer of acknowledgement and Duo seemed to struggle to want to keep the conversation going, but gave up, "I'll see you later then. Bye." Then he hung up quickly.

Heero moved about the room aimlessly for a few minutes before sitting down hard on the makeshift bed. He felt restless, not wanting to sleep though he knew he should. The feeling of being an imposter was still hovering over him but he also felt imprisoned.

Finally deciding to do something he moved back into the bedroom where the sight of the unmade bed made him blush slightly. He quickly diverted his attention and went past the bed to one of the shelved shoved against the walls. Multiple books and photo albums were placed there and he reached up and grabbed one at random, moving back to sit precariously at the edge of the bed.

Slowly he thumbed through the filmy pages, looking at all the faces and places in there that were completely foreign to him. Apparently they had once taken a trip all over Europe for a summer. He recognized the places from previous knowledge; Rome, France, England, Ireland, the list went on. There was a particularly beautiful picture of Heero and Duo tangled around each other with a bright countryside stretching behind them. He closed the book with a snap and put it back, rubbing at his temples.

This was bothering him. Everything indicated that he'd lived there before, but his rational mind kept fighting that thought.

He left the room, snapping the door shut behind him, and went to the fold out bed to lie down, trying to fight the inclination to scream and throw things and cry. That would mean that he had lost control, and loosing control was something he'd always hated.

The next thing Heero knew was a loud knocking at the front door. Slowly Heero got up from the bed, carefully moving to the window and lean against the wall to look sideways out the window at the visitor.

It was a man with brilliant blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a sophisticated outfit. He glanced at his watch then back at the door and knocked again. With a tired sigh he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. He waited a moment then started up a conversation on the other line. It was interesting to watch him because he talked with his hands. First he waved agitatedly in the direction of the wrecked car, then at the house, and finally to the world in general.

The conversation was short and ended with him closing his phone cleanly and looking suspiciously at the front door, then turning and storming over to his sleek, blue BMW. He was gone within moments and then the phone inside the house rang and Heero hustled to answer it.

"Hello?" He asked cautiously.

"You didn't answer the door, did you?" Duo asked cautiously.

"No. How did-"

Duo gave a long suffering sigh, "That was Quatre, your art dealer and one of our closest friends." Heero remembered the name from the note that Duo had left him. "He called me to see why you weren't answering the door. I told him you got into an accident and I told you needed severe bed rest. I-I didn't want to tell him the whole story."

Heero felt a pang of guilt in his heart for poor Duo. "The only problem is, he wants to come back tonight to check on you. I said you were a little disoriented so you wouldn't have a lot to talk about." Duo went on and Heero's guilt quickly turned to panic.

"So… what now?"

"We're going to have to play this up. I'll be home soon and we can talk about the basics, and I'll do a lot of the talking and we'll just… have to wing it I guess."

Duo kept true to his word and was home within a matter of minutes, carrying with him so takeout from an Italian restaurant. He gave Heero a small grin and set out the food on the table and sat down. "Okay. So we have a limited amount of time to go over all this. Quatre will understand if you're confused on a few things but…" He trailed off.

Heero took the seat across from Duo, who immediately got up to take off his jacket and walk around, doing menial tasks. "So, main things. Quatre met you just after you came to stay with me. He saw one of your paintings at our old apartment near the bookstore and got your name out there and he is the reason why your paintings are everywhere. Trowa is his husband and he works as a vet tech at a clinic in town."

He took a moment to breathe and Heero grabbed the chance to ask a few questions of his own, "Where do you work?"

"Labyrinth Books, just off of Arapaho. I manage the place and a couple pieces of yours are hanging there."

Heero ruffled his bangs in frustration. He hated being told things that he seriously shouldn't have to be told. He had memories up to this point, just not about what he actually needed to remember. Duo stopped moving around long enough to sit at the table and touch Heero's hand with his own scalding hot fingers.

"Listen, I'll do most of the talking, I usually do anyway. I know this is stressing you at. We'll just get Quatre in, see what he wants and then get him out. If you have to you can pretend to have a fainting spell or something." He added, giving Heero a rather feeble grin.

Heero couldn't muster up the will to smile back, so he just nodded jerkily and skewered some pasta on his fork and ate quietly. Duo got up once more an wandered around for a while longer until his hunger made him give up and he sat at the table, almost inhaling his food.

They'd managed to barely put away the pull out bed when Quatre got to the house. He knocked lightly on the door and with a deep, steadying breath Duo went to answer it. Heero felt like he should have consoled Duo or something, because he really did look worried about having Heero's 'amnesia' get out in the open and having to deal with the ramifications of it. That thought made Heero determined to not screw this up, if only to help the poor man.

A second after Duo answered the door the smartly dressed man sauntered into the room, bringing with him the smell of expensive cologne. He'd barely been in the room a second before he launched himself onto Heero, hugging him so tightly that he was sure his ribs were going to crack. "My God Heero! I'm so glad you're okay! You're okay, right?" He pulled back to scrutinize Heero's face.

Heero felt his throat constrict and could only manage to nod. Quatre didn't seem fully convinced, but took a step back and sat down daintily. "Duo, could you make us a cup of tea?"

Duo hesitated, glancing at Heero who looked at him wide-eyed, silently begging Duo not to go. But Duo knew Quatre would get really suspicious if he hovered and tried to cover everything said. So, he threw on a cheery smile and wandered into the kitchen.

Heero hovered to the side slightly and then sat down across from the smart looking man, looking unsure. Quatre gave him a soft smile, "So, what happened to the car?"

"Car accident?" Heero supplied and Quatre laughed brightly,

"Leave the smart comments to Duo. I don't know if I can handle two jokers." Heero hadn't thought that he was being funny.

Heero bit the inside of his cheek and gave a quick answer, "I was driving back here and I swerved and hit the tree."

Quatre nodded, "I was worried when you didn't call to say you'd gotten home like you said you would. Duo said you hit your head, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is fine." Heero answered quickly.

Quatre pursed his pink lips and sat back in the chair, folding his hands in his lap and looking incredibly business-like. "No memory loss?"

"Not really. Some things are fuzzy." Heero replied, trying to keep his answers vague.

Quatre tilted his head a little and stared at Heero. "I spoke to Sally earlier today." Heero searched his short memory of the past couple days for the name and blanched, she'd been the doctor who had attended to him that first night. "She said that you remembered nothing of all the years you've been with Duo and instead think you have a girlfriend in another town."

Heero moved quickly, improvising on the spot. "That was just a temporary lapse of my memory. I had a good night sleep and everything has come back to me." He knew he could have just fessed up right then and there, but he didn't want to have to make Duo deal with the stigma of the situation.

"Everything, hm?" Quatre looked thoughtful and for one wild moment Heero thought he could see acceptance in Quatre's eyes, then he challenged him. "Do you remember Duo's tattoo?"

Heero knew that answering wrong could be disastrous and kept praying Duo would show up, but when he didn't Heero ventured a guess. "Of course I do."

"What is it of?"

He knew he was sunk. "A star?"

"Wrong." Quatre glared at him, "It's a sparrow, one that he asked you to draw for him a little while after you first met."

Heero shook his head and waited for the man to go on. "So you remember nothing of us?" Heero shook his head, "Why did you hide it?" He could hear the pain in the man's voice and sunk a little into the chair.

"I'm already hurting him enough as it is by not remembering us. I didn't want to cause him anymore pain."

Quatre reached out to touch Heero's knee then called, "Duo, get out here." Duo entered a second later, clutching a mug in his hand; his knuckles had turned white.

Duo sat and handed Quatre his drink, keeping his gaze to the ground. "How long were you going to hide this from me?" Quatre demanded, setting the drink to the side. Duo shrugged, defeat crushing his body. "So, what are you going to do to fix it?"

Duo's head snapped up, "Heero's memory isn't something broken that can be fixed by me. I can help but if he wants to remember he will, so stay out and let us work on this. Okay?" The other men were surprised by Duo's sudden forcefulness and stayed quiet. Heero felt his heart ache a little, wishing he knew what was right and what he could do to help.

Finally Quatre sighed, "Fine, I will stay out and I won't tell Trowa or Wufei unless they notice something, which you know they will. Sally informed me that she hadn't told Wufei and promised she until you said it was okay."

"Thank you." Duo whispered softly.

"Heero. I advise you learn everything you can about your life and try and do a little work on the commission for Noin. The requirements are hopefully still on your computer." He squeezed Heero's hand and then took a sip from his drink and a moment later struck up a normal conversation with the two men.

He left an hour later and Duo looked swamped. He whispered something about going to bed and touched Heero's arm slightly. Heero waited until he heard the bedroom door close and unfolded the couch.

Heero lay under the sheets for a while, staring up at the ceiling. He felt horrible and wished he could do more for Duo. But more than that he wished he could help himself and figure out what was real and what wasn't real in his life. It was obvious that what was happening now was reality, but then what were the memories that he still kept in his mind from? Were they from a reality he once knew? Or where they actually dreams and this was his reality?

His head began to pound once more and he rolled onto his side, about to fall asleep. The last coherent thought he had was about how he wished he could see Duo's tattoo.

[xXx][xXx][xX]

Wow! Finally finished this chapter. Expect the final part of the Course of True Love soon. I really loved this chapter for some reason, and I attribute to the really weird way of ending it to having just read a little bit of Sidhartha just a few moments ago.

My life has been shit right about now and I've come to the point where I hate everything and everyone more than a few times. So, writing is my only outlet, which really sucks since I rarely get to work on it.

Oh well, that should change soon.

Hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to review!


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